A Letter from the Chair

Published: May 12, 2015

Author: Agustín Fuentes

I hope you are well and enjoying the spring. The 2014-2015 academic year was full of successes, new experiences, and scholarly engagement. It has been an exciting year for faculty and students alike.

We had a full year, with multiple conferences attended by faculty and students and a great deal of excitement around the department. This year saw our first Ph.D. program cohort arrive on campus and inaugurate the program. They are a terrific bunch and are now dispersing across the globe (Tibet, Peru, Indonesia, South Africa, Ireland, Kenya, and Colombia) for their summer projects. There are also multiple undergraduate summer projects kicking off both in the U.S. and abroad. Anthropology students are spectacular!

While we are still in the final planning for the move to our new building in fall 2017, we did make a few upgrades to our current space on the sixth floor of Flanner Hall. Specifically, our new departmental reception area/lounge has been a great hit, with students and faculty using it regularly for informal meetings, receptions, and impromptu discussion groups.

It has been an amazing year for the faculty and students in research, teaching, learning, and collaborating. I am blessed to be chair of such a wonderful department and am excited for next year and all the challenges and successes it will bring.

Enjoy this brief newsletter as a snapshot of some of the highlights of the last year, and please be sure to join our Facebook page (if you have not already done so) and drop us a line now and then to let us know how (and what) you are doing—we are always excited to hear from all of you.